


To Build A Home

by lemoncherrypop



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Character Death, Death Eaters, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Sexual Content, Smut, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:07:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26419207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemoncherrypop/pseuds/lemoncherrypop
Summary: The war has finally come and your entire world falls into ruin. After a surprise attack from the Death Eaters, you barely escape with your life and find refuge in a faraway safe house. Everything would have been fine, all things considered, except for the fact that you had fallen right into the snake’s pit.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Reader
Comments: 26
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

Run.

Run until your lungs collapse. Run until your legs break in half. Run until your body bleeds dry.

And even then, you must **run**.

They were coming for you. The castle was under attack, and the place you’ve called home for the past seven years was on fire. With the roaring flames behind you, you wept as you ran away from Hogwarts. Ignoring the burning glow on your back, you gripped tightly onto your wand.

There were two of them trailing right behind you. You cursed under your breath, the anonymity of the Death Eaters who hid behind their masks striking more fear in you than you’d like to admit.

“ _Stupefy_!” You blasted right behind you, sparing yourself the tiniest of glimpses for the chance of a decent shot.

You hear a violent thud, and grin, knowing that you managed to knock down one of them. Good.

“Goodbye, Cicero!” The remaining Death Eater jumped over his fallen comrade with glee, almost skipping with delight as he chased you away from Hogwarts.

_Cicero_. You've seen that name before. His name was one of many who had gone to Azkaban for torturing over a dozen muggles right at the center of King’s Cross. If a wizard was unhinged enough to use dark magic in one of the most crowded muggle places, who knew what he would’ve done to you? You thank your lucky stars that you had gotten him before he reached you.

“Keep running, mudblood!” He screamed, sending another red light your way. “I’ll catch you! I’ll catch every last one of you!”

You shouted _protego_ over and over again, the shield procuring itself to deflect all the fired spells. It was easier to defend yourself than to attack when you could only face forward to escape. But endless hexes were being shot your way, left and right, and your shielding charm could only protect you for so long. You needed to reach the portkey. Fast.

Running alone, and fighting off a crazed Death Eater, you thought of your best friend. You desperately wanted to find her. You wanted to make sure she was safe, but you knew you couldn’t do anything. At the moment, the only person you could worry about was yourself. After all, you made a promise to her, and you intended to keep it.

_“Your port key is an old silver necklace, okay? It’s an old rusty thing, but it’ll be hanging on that tree you crashed into during our third year.” Jean, your best friend since year one pulled you into a hidden alcove. Her words were spilling out of her lips in a harsh whisper. “At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the big sycamore tree split in half, that’s where your necklace is.”_

_“What are you talking about?” Your stomach drops. “What portkey? Where am I going?”_

_“I can’t tell you, but you can’t stay here,” she shakes her head, her eyes brimming with tears threatening to fall. “Just trust me, please. Remember this, tomorrow night, after midnight, you need to run. You remember, don’t you? That tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forest?”_

_You try to swallow down your rising panic, nodding fervently, “I do, but—”_

_“No questions!” She cuts you off, her tears escaping down her cheeks. “I’m doing this for you! Can you do this for me?”_

_“Am I— am I leaving?”_

_“Yes.”_

_You let out a shuddering breath. You knew the war was coming. The school hasn’t been the same since it started a month ago, but you didn’t think battle would come so soon. At Hogwarts no less._

_“What about you?” You grab her hands, dread sinking into your heavy heart. “You’re a muggle-born too! It’s not safe for either of us.”_

_“I’m running as well. It’ll be you and me.” Jean tries her best to smile. “But I will have a different portkey. We have to leave separately, it’ll be safer for us that way.”_

_“Where is your portkey then?”_

_“I can’t tell you, I want you to only focus on yours,” Jean says. “Remember, the necklace hanging on the tree at the edge of the forest. Don’t forget it.”_

_You echo her words, repeating her instructions like a mantra. Jean quickly wipes her tears away and hugs you._

_“This won’t be goodbye,” she says._

_“I’ll see you again,” you promise her, lifting your pinky finger._

_Jean brings up her own pinky, intertwining it with yours for only a few short seconds, and briskly walks away to leave you in your own tears._

The run to the Forbidden Forest was an excruciatingly long one. You’ve managed to go past the Whomping Willow successfully, and your legs were burning just as much as your lungs. With a quick twist of your wrist, you send a hex behind you, but it barely skims the Death Eater on the arm. The hex only encouraged the mad man even more, and his cackles grew increasingly louder, continuing his frenzied run after you with no sign of exhaustion.

Blood was pumping in your ears, and the deranged laughter of the killer behind you nearly echoed in the open fields. Red flashes streaked by you, and a few of them had scraped your neck and your arms, the skin tearing open in a painful sizzle. But despite all the open wounds on your body, all you could feel was the urgency to find the necklace, and the will to stay alive. The pain would come later.

“ _Expulso_!” You blast and narrowly miss the Death Eater, clumps of dirt flying into the air as it hits the ground behind him. His smile only grows wider, running with undisturbed blitheness as he gains in on you by the seconds.

Perhaps the fact that he was getting closer to you was distracting him. The Death Eater stopped shooting spells at you entirely, only calling out _mudblood, mudblood_ as if it were a song. He sounded too delighted at the thought of capturing you alive that his wand was simply waving about in his hand and nothing else.

Up ahead, you could finally see the Groundskeeper’s Cabin. It was right behind there where the sycamore tree would be, holding onto the precious portkey that would whisk you away from death’s grip. 

Keeping your eyes focused on the path in front of you, you muster up every last remaining bit of your energy and _ran_. Faster than you had before, you bolted towards your portkey at almost an inhumane speed, the adrenaline was coursing throughout your body.

You jump past the small pile of chopped wood next to the hut, making a beeline straight to your destined tree. 

It was right there, right in front of you. 

“Come now, mudblood!” The Death Eater called after you. “I have plans to play with you!”

The moon was bright tonight, and you could see the necklace. The metal sheened even through the rust, and you dashed towards it. 

“Master said I could take my time with you,” he cackled. “Said I could do anything I wanted!”

Closer, and closer. You could almost feel his claws scratching the back of your neck.

“I could round you up with all my other little toys!”

You reached your hand out, fingers stretched out desperately to the dangling chain.

“The other boy cried out so delightfully—”

The air twisted around you violently, whisking you away from the Death Eater’s grasp and out of his wickedness.

//

The portkey dropped you on a hill surrounded by cornflowers and verbenas. It was storming, and the clouds weighed heavy in the sky, darkening the land below it. 

With a sob, you fall to your knees and hug yourself. Burying your face into your hands, you tremble from both the cold and the waning fear with your brush with death itself. You had escaped your home successfully. You had made it out alive. But you were alone.

Lifting your head, you couldn’t see much. Everything was so dark, both the rain and your tears blurring your vision. After much effort, you pulled yourself back up to your feet and looked around. There was a house ahead of you, and you slowly walked towards it. It was absolutely decrepit, the roof was broken in, every window was shattered, and the front door was hanging by a single bolt. No one could ever live in a house like that.

You wept even more, feeling more lost and helpless than ever. What plans did Jean have for you? And why did she send you to a broken-down house in the middle of nowhere?

“Over here.” You hear a voice, and your eyes snap up towards the source.

It was Mingyu, your tall Slytherin classmate and also Jean’s boyfriend. You knew him, you could trust him. Mingyu was standing just a few meters away from you. “Come follow me,” he said, beckoning towards you. “The house is this way.”

“ _Lumos_ ,” you muttered, lighting up the muddy flowers in front of you. You trudge forward, your calfskin boots get caked with dirt, and a heavy ache begins settling deep into every muscle of your body.

There were no greetings when you reached him. He only nodded somberly and walked ahead, towards the crumbling home. You walk only for a moment before he stops in front of you.

Mingyu reaches for your hand. “You need me to go through the wards.” and he walks forward.

The air rippled around you, and you could immediately feel a warmth radiating from the house in front of you. Before you stood not a house in ruin, but a beautiful old stone cottage. Slabs of rocks were cemented together to form chimneys that go high up towards the sky, arched windows with intricate designs adorned every wall, and a lovely flower bed that was currently getting overwatered by the storm was lined up on all sides of the cottage.

It was two stories tall, and as you faced the home, you realized that you were looking directly into the cottage.

The stone cottage was, well, mostly made of stone, except for the giant sheet of glass that took up the majority of the front of the home. Chunks of granite were pebbled on all four edges of the glass wall, which seemed to be built for the living room. To the right of the transparent front was a wooden door, and a detailed carving of an anilius snake curved itself into a giant S.

“The others are waiting for you.” Mingyu made his way to the front door, and turned the bronze handle.

“Others?” You hastily wipe your tears and your snot filled nose with your sleeve, and found it to be completely drenched. Mingyu has already made his way inside, and you wipe your face clean to the best of your ability and hurriedly follow in after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve been creating a harrypotter au with seventeen in my head for the longest time, and i thought i’d finally sit down and write it out. there will be original female characters to fit the storyline. warnings: this will get dark and heavy. there will be character deaths, and lots and lots of angst. i will write out specific warnings before every chapter. thanks to my beta @minigum for always listening to me rant about seventeen 🖤 my most precious girl, i love you 🖤


	2. Chapter 2

A wand whips out and points directly at your neck the second you walk through the door.

“Who transfigured his toad into a worm instead of a snake last year?” A familiar voice questions you with a quiet but menacing authority.

The room you enter is too bright in contrast to the outside world, and there is a strong earthy scent hanging in the air from the dozens of candles placed on every surface. You rub your eyes with a soiled hand in an attempt to clear your vision, and try to shove the wand away from your jugular when someone roughly seizes both your hands away. There’s a grunt from you in protest, but you’ve already fought your battle, and you are too weak to resist as your wrists are twisted behind your back in a tight vice.

“What the fuck is going—”

“Answer the question.” A different voice cuts you off.

You blink angrily, adjusting your vision from the grim in your eyes.

“It was Josh,” you answer puzzled, eyes finally coming to see another one of your classmates from Slytherin, Jeon Wonwoo. 

“Our third year— who got knocked down by that hippogriff in our care of magical creatures class?” Another strange question. 

“Hey—”

“Shut it. We need an answer.”

Swallowing, you surveyed the room with suspicion. Mingyu was standing by himself with a stoic expression, arms crossed and leaning against a wall on the side. The one holding their wand to your neck and asking you the bizarre questions was Wonwoo. Immobilized, you sneak a glance with a side eye and see Xu Minghao, yet _another_ Slytherin, locking your hands aggressively behind your back. 

Snarling, you try to get a better grip on your wand when it flies out of your hand. Your head snaps up with a gasp, your eyes leveling directly to the man who cast the disarming charm.

Choi Seungcheol. The **worst** of all the Slytherins. 

He was your own personal hell. 

He was the boy who went out of his way to ruin your life in every way possible since you bumped into him accidently before the sorting hat. He was the one who knocked you off your broomstick during the final Quidditch match in your fifth year, making you snap both of your legs in half from the steep drop. He was the one who ratted out the whereabouts of your fellow muggleborn friends to try and get them caught by his Death Eater father. He was the one who snuck in over a hundred Death Eaters into Hogwarts last year, and murdered the Headmaster. 

He was one of them now. He was a Death Eater. And he’d be suspect number one if your body was ever found dead in a ditch of Knockturn Alley.

Seungcheol stood just a few steps away from you, sneering and looking down at you with his usual haughty and arrogant expression. He twirled your wand in his fingers, mockingly.

“Answer the question,” Minghao repeats, pressing down even harder on your hands.

“Who got knocked down by the hippogriff?” You scoff, eyes narrowing as you glare into Seungcheol’s dark eyes. “Well, I’m looking right at him.”

Seungcheol bristles at your answer, head jerking to the side and opened his mouth with a deep scowl. “Of all the fucking questions to ask!”

“That’s not important right now,” Wonwoo snaps back at him.

“What’s with all these questions?” you complain, sounding exasperated. You’ve resigned to the fact that Minghao was holding you in a deeply uncomfortable position at the moment. If you had your usual strength, you would’ve been able to snap the skinny twat’s body into two in an instant, but your escape from Hogwarts had drained almost all your physical energy. 

“It’s routine here.” Mingyu speaks up. “We have to make sure you’re not someone else. Polyjuice has gotten very popular this year.”

Wonwoo keeps his distance with you and mutters a few spells under his breath, then begins scanning your face, keeping the tip of his wand disturbingly close to your eyes.

“Excuse me— for fuck’s sake, Wonwoo,” You snarl at him. “What the fuck is this now? Give me back my fucking wand!”

“Definitely not under the imperius curse either,” Seungcheol chuckles darkly. In a taunt, he dangles his wand in front of your eyes to try to spark your temper. “There’s that bitchy attitude no ones missed.”

Wonwoo scowls at Seungcheol’s crude comment, and draws his wand back when he’s done scanning you. “She’s clean.” He states and nods to Minghao.

Minghao reluctantly lets go of you, and you rub your sore wrists as you continue to glare at Seungcheol.

“The fuck are you looking at—”

Nails drawn out like claws, you jump on him. Diving your fingers immediately into his hair and jumper, you get a good grip on him and manage to get one good kick to his groin before the rest of the boys pull you back.

Seungcheol bends over in pain and crumples down onto the floor. Your wand falls out of his hand and rolls out of his way on the carpet.

“Let go of me!” You shout, almost biting the air as your movements are once again restricted. “What the fuck is he doing here? He’s a fucking Death Eater!”

Minghao easily resumes his previous position. “I’d be careful if I were you.” He tells you as a warning, but you can’t help but laugh at his words.

“Careful of who?” You crack up at the sight of your worst enemy on his knees in front of you. “Of this dickhead?”

“Look around you,” Seungcheol grits out. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all Death Eaters here. You’re in our territory now, bitch. You’ll be knocked down before you can even open your filthy mudblood mouth!”

Your eyes narrow to slits when you hear the word. “That’s a load of shit coming from someone whose on the floor—” 

“He’s right,” Wonwoo interrupts you. “We’ve all got the mark.”

“What—” Your mouth drops open. “All of you? Death Eaters?”

Wonwoo presses his lips tightly together, eyes flitting up to Mingyu’s and lets go of his grip on your arm. 

“Mingyu?” You turn to the towering man on your other side, watching him step back after he also releases your arm. “Even you?”

Mingyu nods slowly, carefully watching setting a distance between you and himself. “That’s why we’re all in this house,” he says. “We’re here to hide.”

Venom bubbled up in your throat, you could taste it in the back of your throat. “I _knew_ it. I knew she should’ve never dated you! How could you do this?”

“I didn’t have a choice.” His voice is devoid of any emotions. “None of us did.”

“I can’t believe I was dumb enough to trust someone like you!”

“You _can_ trust us—”

“You’re just like the rest of them snakes—”

“Hey, listen. Just listen!” Minghao snaps, losing his calm and grabs your shoulders, forcibly turning you around so you could face him. “We won’t hurt you, not here. We’re all in hiding! No one will hurt you.”

“Says who?” Seungcheol growls.

“Shut it!” Mingyu barks at him. “You made a deal with me, asshole.”

“How am I supposed to trust any of you?” You question them angrily. “You’re still Death Eaters!”

“We _were_ Death Eaters,” Wonwoo corrects you. “We’ve all defected.”

“Bullshit! You think I’d believe that? Just look at the mark on your arms!”

“The mark on our arms?” Seungcheol rounds back, pushing Mingyu to the side to face you directly. “You think we don’t fucking know what’s on our arms?”

Gritting your teeth, you look up at him with fury. Poison dripping from your eyes.

Seungcheol sharply tugs his sleeve up his arm, angling his forearm for you to see his Dark Mark. “Why don’t you see for yourself? Here. Take a closer look.” He sneers at his own arm, looking down at the scar as if it were a deformity. “Do you see it now?”

The skin on his forearm looked as if it had patched itself over and over again. The mark was still very distinct, the black of the skull and the snake were still very prominent, but the details were blurry, and the skin that outlined the mark looked as if they had eroded away. It reminded you vaguely of the scars on your knees from when you had tripped onto a concrete pavement as a child. Your fingers reached out tentatively, curious to know how the broken skin felt like, but Seungcheol pulled his arm back away instantly.

“Who did that?” The question falls out of your lips before you can even process it.

“We did.” Wonwoo answers for the group. “Like I said, we’ve all defected.”

“We can’t get rid of it,” Minghao adds on.”No matter what we did, the mark wouldn’t disappear. Think it goes down to the bone, it’s a cursed mark after all. It’ll be with us forever, I reckon. The least we can do is tarnish the skin that it’s on. We hated even looking at it.”

“You harmed yourself for this?” You gulp down acid, eyeing the Dark Mark with apprehension. Was the snake moving on it’s own? Or was it just the muscle in Minghao’s arm that twitched? You didn’t know.

“Hurt like a bitch to do it. Still does.” Seungcheol stares down at it somberly. “Fact of the matter is, we’re just a bunch of rejects. Fucking cowards, all of us. We ran away to hide because we didn’t want to fight in the war.”

“It’s not because we’re cowards. No, we’re just trying to survive.” Wonwoo sternly corrects him.

“Do you believe us now?” Mingyu looks at you tiredly, running his fingers through his hair with a deep sigh. “Doesn’t matter anyhow, I can’t be here any longer. I need to be outside.” He grabs a long trench coat off a hanger on the wall and storms back outside.

Baffled, you ask, “He’s going back out in this weather?” You watch him from the large window, and he quickly walks out past the wards.

“Are you daft?” Seungcheol rolls his eyes at you. “Who do you think he’s waiting for?”

Your eyes open wide in surprise. “Jean!” you gasp, hope blooming in your chest. “She’s coming here as well?”

“Sweet Salazar, do you know nothing?” Minghao looks down at you with almost a pitiful expression.

“I’ll knock that look off your face, you shithead,” you scowl. “The only instructions I got was to reach my portkey after midnight. Jean didn’t tell me anything else.”

“Mingyu asked her not to,” Wonwoo admitted. “It’s safer for us the less people know of this house. We can’t compromise anything.”

“I still voted to _not_ have you to join us, by the way.” Seungcheol jeered.

“If I knew _you’d_ be in here, I would’ve just stayed at Hogwarts and fought alongside the professors!” You retort back vehemently.

“To fight the Death Eaters? You really are mad. With what skills, Princess?” He mocks you.

Hearing your childish nickname roll out so easily from his mouth easily brought your blood back to a boil. Oh how much you _loathed_ this man.

“How convenient of you to forget the time I beat you during our dueling match.” You crossed your arms across your chest, openly taunting him of his past embarrassments.

“In third year? We were only children back then—” 

“And I’ve only gotten better with time—” 

“But you suck at potions—” 

“But I’m the best in defense against the dark arts!”

“Load of horseshit!”

“What am I going to do when a Death Eater attacks me straight on? Throw a draught of the living death at them!?”

“ _Enough_.” Minghao slices through the air with a sharp look. “You’re still acting like children, the both of you.”

“I’ll have you know, I fought off two Death Eaters on my own to get here,” you continue, ignoring Minghao’s dark glare. “Managed to knock out a Death Eater named Cicero, and I could’ve been captured by the other, but I outran him.”

“Cicero?” Wonwoo’s eyes widen by a fraction. “Shit. Why would they send him?”

“If Cicero went after you… the other Death Eater must’ve been Selpie.” Minghao quirks an eyebrow, expression still dark but now with a hint of awe. “They work as a pair. Always together. Gotta give you more credit, Gryffindor, I’m surprised you managed to outrun him.

A shaky breath slips out of your lips. “I almost didn’t,” you admit to them reluctantly. “I could feel his fingers on the back of my neck before I reached the portkey.” Damn yourself for even showing the snakes even the tiniest sign of weakness.

Wonwoo bends down to pick up your wand and stares at it in his hand. He seemed hesitant to hand it back to you, but only a short moment passes before he places it back into your open hand. “Well, if my words mean anything to you… I am glad that you made it here.”

Your fingers curl around your wand, feeling the safety in the magic rushing back in the tip of your fingers again. You aren’t sure what to make of his words. Your mistrust of the Slytherins had run in your blood for so long, but for the first time ever, Wonwoo seemed genuine.

“Getting caught by those two is worse than death itself.” Minghao tells you, and it almost sounds like a forewarning.

A cold shiver runs down your back and you remember the manic laughter of the Death Eater who chased you. There’s a chill in the air, but you blame it on your sodden clothes that’s still stuck to every part of your body. “How so?” You didn’t want to ask, but your morbid curiosity got the better of you.

“They’ve got a weird fetish in torturing people.” Seungcheol cracks a hollow smile. “They kidnap mudbloods, lock them up in cages, and tortures them all day and night. They experiment with dark magic, all sorts of hexes and curses and odd potions. Says death is too easy for them, that they have to work towards it.”

“I got caught trying to give a roll of bread to a man one night,” Wonwoo muttered. “Spent two weeks in the dungeon for that.”

“I warned you not to.” Seungcheol shook his head. “You’re lucky that solitary confinement was all you got.”

“How can I just stand still? He was Seokmin’s father—”

“Who gives a rat’s ass about that useless Hufflepuff?”

“Wait— _wait_. Did you say Seokmin?” Your heart plummets into your stomach. “His father got caught?”

Wonwoo turns away, and his face is vacant of any expressions, both hands clenched tightly into fists. “Yes, but it was only his father.” He was attempting to reassure you. “Seokmin wasn’t there.”

“What… happened to him?” Your voice comes out weak, a whisper. “His father? Is he… is he still alive?”

“He was still alive the night we escaped from Seungcheol’s manor,” Minghao answers for you stoically, clapping his hand on your shoulder to bring your attention to him. “Enough of this. You made it, and that’s what we should focus on, yeah?”

“Thank the fucking skies above us.” Seungcheol’s back to being a prat, and he’s jeering at you once more. “We’re now blessed with Gryffindor’s princess within our midst.”

“For Salazar’s sake, am I going to have to listen to this everyday?” Wonwoo chides. “We’re not at school anymore.”

“Why ask questions when you already know the answer?” Minghao responds. “You expect him to mature overnight?”

“Whatever, dickheads. I’m going back upstairs,” Seungcheol grunts, throwing you one final glare before turning around towards the staircase. “Call me when it’s time.”

“I can’t promise no broken bones,” you turn to the other two boys grumpily.

Wonwoo places a hand on your shoulder. “Just don’t make it my problem, alright?” His eyes venture down your body, scanning you for any clear wounds. “We need to get you patched up. You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“I’ve got the kit right here,” Minghao says, already reaching for a metal box on the sofa table. “We’ve only got one bottle of essence of dittany left, do you think you’ll need it?”

“I can take care of myself,” you frown, slapping away Wonwoo’s hand. Your ferocity towards the snakes is already coming back to you once again at Minghao’s suspicious hospitality. “You can piss off into your rooms already.”

Minghao stares at you, and his normally stoic face slowly curls up into a grin.

“Suit yourself,” he drops a small vial and a box of bandages back into the box in front of you. “Get cleaned up in your room then, the longer you stay here, the dirtier the carpet is getting.”

You frown even deeper. “No, I’m staying here,” you state. “I’m going to wait for Jean.”

Minghao looks slowly down at you with clear disdain. “Your room is up the stairs, down the hallway— last door on the right.” The fucking prick was _ignoring_ you.

“I’m going to wait,” you repeat, your temper still simmering in your veins.

“And I’m telling you where your room is.” Minghao rolls his eyes at you for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight. You wanted so badly to stab his snake eyes out of his scrawny head. “I’m trying to be polite here—”

“You’re doing a shit job at it—”

“ _You’re ruining the carpet_ ,” Minghao tells you again, putting thick emphasis after every word.

Wonwoo grabs him by his elbow and jerks him away from you, sensing another round of hostility rising. “Even if she did arrive now,” Wonwoo cuts in between you and Minghao, “I bet Mingyu’s outside giving her a… warm welcome. You’ll feel better once you get out of those clothes.”

You gnaw on your bottom lip silently, not at all comforted at the thought of a worthlessly tall beanstalk standing outside in the rain waiting for your best friend. It should be you out there.

“You’re cold, aren’t you?”

You squirm uncomfortably, the damp clothes doing nothing but adding onto your discomfort. “What if she can’t make it?” You voice out loud your worries for the first time that night.

Minghao sighs deeply, and you barely catch a glimpse of his face before he turns to the giant window. _Pity_. 

“What if she got caught?” You continue, your skin feeling colder and colder by the second. “What if I never see her again?”

Wonwoo places both hands on your shoulders, and you don’t push him away this time. “You’ll see her again,” he says softly, like a promise. He was trying to comfort you

“You’ll only feel worse the longer you stand there.” Minghao stays unmoved from his spot. “We’ll let you know when she gets here.”

“But really though,” Wonwoo stares down at you pointedly. “The room’s getting more muddy by the second. Wash up.”

You find it much easier to push Wonwoo away from you this time. “Fine, you arse.” You didn’t have the energy to start yet another fight with the snakes. “Don’t have to be such rude pricks about it.” You grumble before dragging yourself towards the stairs.

//

It pained you to admit it, but you had been wrong about them. It seemed out of politeness, no one had made a comment on your atrocious appearance on purpose, and it made you hate them all the more.

You looked disturbingly gaunt, dark purple had sunk deep into the hollows of your eyes, and your hair— your fucking **hair**. Wet dirt had somehow caked themselves into whole sections of your hair, and they've now separated into damp clumps with dead leaves sticking out at odd angles.

A dog that had spent a long evening rolling around in a puddle of mud and rocks surely looked better than you.

Peeling your gritty, wet clothes off your body was a chore and a half, but you managed to shed yourself completely free of all garments and got inside the tub. The scaldingly hot water felt sinfully good on your skin. It burned as it rained down on you, but in the most heavenly way possible. Every nick and wound you got screamed in pain, but you diligently rubbed your fingers over them, ridding them of the caked on blood and dirt as much as possible.

You waited until the water finally ran clear to properly wash yourself. Scents of orange flower and vanilla perfused the room when you applied your shampoo, and warm chestnut when you applied your conditioner. Breathing in deeply, the warm smells soothe your aching muscles and your exhausted mind.

Taking your time in washing your body, you carefully avoid your wounds with your sudsy hands until you’ve reached every inch of your skin. It took some time, but you finally finished your shower, and stepped back out of the tub.

A towel wrapped itself around you, and with a quick flick of your wand, your hair began drying on its own. Wiping away at the fog in the mirror, you stared at yourself with a fatigued expression. Still hollow eyed and wearied, you were pleased to see that the hot shower had brought some color back into your cheeks.

The warm air swirling around you slowly comes to a still, body dry enough to slip into your clean clothes. Your thick jumper dress falls well below your knees, and you pull on a pair of your favorite knitted socks. You look in the mirror one last time to fix your hair properly now that it was free of all branches and pebbles, and sigh. 

Because holy fucking **fuck** . Both corners of your mouth are tugged down deeply into a scowl. Your raging wrath for the Slytherins hasn’t even properly begun yet, and it was the worst feeling in the world. Worse than being chased by two murderous Death Eaters, you decide, because you were stuck in the snake’s den now and you couldn’t even do anything about it. You were a _guest_ in the snake’s den, and there were so. Many. Fucking. Snakes.

//

The carpet in your room had indents of your feet at this point. Pacing back and forth continuously from your bed to the window, your eyes flicker up to the clock every few seconds to check the time. It was well past two in the morning, and the hopes of your friend escaping successfully were slipping away like sand in an hourglass.

There is a knock on your door.

“She’s here.” A voice says. Wonwoo? Or Mingyu? You weren’t sure, but it didn’t matter. You bolted out the door, running down the hallway and going down the stairs two steps at a time.

She was sitting right there, in the common room, with her face caked with just as much dirt and blood as you had, but she was alive.

You didn’t even give her the time to react, because you threw yourself onto her before she even got a chance to say your name.

“Fucking hell! She’s injured!” Mingyu is the one to tear you away from her, annoyance clear on his face. “Can’t you see the blood?”

“Oh fuck—” you gasp, not even mad at Mingyu’s rough handling on you. “Oh no, I’m so sorry! You’re hurt, oh my gods—”

“I’m fine!” Jean breathes out exasperated. “It’s okay. I’m okay.” She looks better than you did, still just as beat up as you were, but her eyes looked so bright, so clear, and alive. The corners of yours started prickling with salt water.

“You’ve got blood dripping down your face,” Mingyu growls angrily. “Fucking fine, my fucking arse—”

“I made it here,” she stops him firmly. “A little blood isn’t going to kill me.”

“Thank Godric, you’re alive,” you almost whimper, falling on the floor next to her. “I was so scared that you got caught, I’ve been waiting hours… what happened to you?”

Jean looks away sheepishly, almost as if she got caught doing something bad. “I ran into the forest. I got— well, I got lost, and that’s why it took me so long.”

“ _What?!_ _You went where?!_ ” you shriek. “Inside the bloody forest?”

“Have you gone mad!” Mingyu jumps in, sounding just as appalled as you.

“I couldn’t shake them off, hey, listen to me—” Jean raises a finger to silence both of you. “I already had two Death Eaters on my trail, but I saw another one coming in on me from the side. They got too close to my portkey, I couldn’t risk it! I can’t fight three Death Eaters on my own, so I had to lose them.”

“Damn you, and your fucking calculations. I swear woman, you’ll be the end of me—”

“Oh fuck off, Mingyu!” you curse at him, defending your friend from a natural instinct. “You talk as if you’re anywhere near her level—”

“I had to _lose_ them,” Jean cuts you both off, bringing up her finger again with a serious look. “I ran in because I had a higher chance of survival if I used the Forbidden Forest to my advantage. It was three against one, I would’ve lost in a heartbeat.” She levels her eyes to both you and Mingyu, making sure no one will interrupt her again. “The forest was so dark, it worked out well, and very quickly too, because they all got lost and separated within minutes of entering the forest. The forest was so dark, however, I ended up losing my path too. I couldn’t make anything out, it took me ages to try and retrace my steps without letting myself be known. I don’t know what happened to the Death Eaters that followed me, but I made it out. I found my portkey.”

Mingyu shuts his eyes, and rubs his palms in slow circles on his closed lids. 

“At least you know that your plan worked,” you huff out, knowing that you were speaking for both yourself and idiot beanstalk next to you.

“Have I ever been wrong?” Jean smirks confidently. “Even if I end up with a couple of bruises and cuts here and there, I’m always right.”

“Infuritatly so,” Mingyu mutters, and he drops to his knees and immediately opens the medicine kit. “Let me tend to your wounds.”

Jean places her arm onto his open hand. “Don’t waste your essence of dittany on me,” she stops him with a look when she notices a small phial. “I’ve only got a few nicks, and those will heal just fine in a couple of days.”

“Fine,” he grumbles in annoyance, choosing instead to disinfect her wounds.

“What about the school?” You grabbed a handkerchief and wet it with alcohol before tending to her head. A bit of blood was still dripping down her forehead. “Do you think Hogwarts will be okay?”

She leveled her eyes onto your worried ones. “The castle was in flames by the time we had left, but Hogwarts will be fine.” It was simply astounding how calm and collected she looked compared to how you felt on the inside.

“I couldn’t even stay and fight, I just ran away.” You shook your head in distraught, muttering under your breath as thought about your beloved home being burnt down to ashes. “It must be in ruins by now.”

“Our professors are some of the most powerful witches and wizards in our world, the school will survive,” she reassures you, using her voice of reason as Ravenclaw’s star student. “If anything, we’ve helped them out by escaping. They’ve got two less students to worry about. I’m sure we’re not the only muggle borns who ran away tonight.”

“You think the others had escaped too?” MIngyu looks up at her in surprise.

“They must have, they can’t stay there anymore.” Jean’s tone turns somber. “The school will never operate the same, it is not safe for any of us.”

“I hope Josh and Vernon are doing okay… I haven’t seen them at all since the school year started.” You gnaw nervously on your bottom lip. Noticing your best housemates disappearance at the beginning of the school year was just the beginning of your worries. It was unusual for them to not even send you an owl considering this would’ve been your final year in school together. “Jihoon hasn’t heard anything from them either.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Mingyu scoffs too easily, “They’ve got that dumb Gryffindor luck, I bet those idiots are throwing back cheap muggle shots together in some dingy looking flat.”

“What did I tell you about being a dick?” Jean scolds him, slapping his shoulder as he applies ointment on her arm.

“Oh, come on,” he groans dramatically, pouting. “I’ve already been civil enough with that idiot Soonyoung. It’s a miracle enough that that rodent of a boy got into Ravenclaw, but you want me to be nice to those Gryffindorks now too?”

“You’ve basically signed a contract to stop being such a prick once I gave you permission to date me,” Jean flicks his forehead sharply. “You know I keep a tally on you.”

“My Gods, you are incorrigible.”

You stick your finger down your throat and pretend to gag. “Did _not_ miss seeing the two of you flirt in front of me. Keep everything else behind closed doors, thank you very much.”

“I’m sorry, by the way.” Jean turns to you, looking rueful. “I wanted to tell you where the portkey led, I just—”

“You knew I would have refused,” you finish her sentence for her. “Yeah, yeah, I already figured it out. And you thought right. I would’ve refused to come here if I knew ahead of time I’d be crashing into the snake’s den.”

Mingyu purses his lips, choosing not to respond out of his love for Jean. 

“Do you forgive me?” Jean looks at you, puppy eyes and all, and pleads for an answer she already knows.

“Don’t look at me like that. Ugh!” You finish taping up the gauze on her forehead and look away with a scowl. “You already know I have, you bitch.”

Rich laughter rings in the air, and you must be absolutely knackered because you’re not sure if it’s from Jean or Mingyu, or from both of them, but it brings out your first genuine smile in the house.

“Well, I think I got all of your cuts cleaned out,” Mingyu slowly stands up, and scans his eyes down her body, triple checking to make sure he took care of every little wound. “Why don’t you get washed up now?”

You point towards the stairs. “Yeah, our room’s upstairs on the—”

“Oh— uh, no, no. She’ll be staying with me.” Mingyu wags a finger in your face, a brow raised in amusement. “ _My_ room is upstairs, first door on the left.”

Your face drops, and you turn to look at Jean with your mouth gaped open like a goldfish.

“Sorry!” She has the gale to look sheepish. “I just— I just kind of assumed I’d be staying in his room?” Jean’s shoulders are up to her ears in clear embarrassment. 

“ _Disgusting_. Absolute heathens, the two of you.” Your finger points at both of them back and forth in an accusatory fashion. “Alright, go to your room then. Bet you can’t wait to get your hands on each other, you animals.”

“Don’t be jealous because you’ve got no one,” Mingyu sticks his tongue at you, his boyish face scrunched up foolishly. “Don’t get too lonely spending your nights alone.”

A different finger is shot towards him now, and he sniggers as he pulls Jean in with one arm.

“I still don’t trust you, snake.”

He smirks. “Think I care what you think? Have a good night, Princess.’

//

The common room was now back to normal, no marks of blood or dirt in sight. Wonwoo slipped his wand back into his pocket, satisfied with himself after a fairly short amount of time of scourgifying the carpet spotless clean. He and Minghao came out after both of the house’s new recruits settled into their rooms to clean up after their mess.

Minghao is already settled into an armchair and waves his hand, motioning for his friend to join him in the matching chair across from him. A hot kettle pours itself into two empty cups in front of them.

“We’ve got the Gryffindor Princess and the Slytherin Prince under one roof now,” Minghao smirks, taking a sip from his piping hot cup. “This’ll be fun.”

“You need to redefine your definition of _fun_ ,” Wonwoo rubs the bridge of his nose, creases getting etched into his forehead. “I expect we’ll be cleaning up broken glass every other day.”

“Aw, come on! Don’t tell me you’re not looking forward to this,” Minghao grins even wider. “Those two won’t be able to keep their hands off each other!”

Wonwoo looked at him apathetically. “Remember your words when you’re filling up all the holes we’re inevitably going to get within these walls.” He quietly advises, “We’re all going to live in this house together now.”

“Make their mess, their problem then,” Minghao scoffs. “I’m just excited to see their fights. It’s been so boring here with just you three, I need some action in here.”

“Whatever you say…” Wonwoo wearily drags his hands down his face. “I’m tucking in for the night. You’re staying up, I presume?”

Minghao takes another sip from his cup. “I’m staying here,” he nods, staring out the window. “I told her I’d wait for her.”

//

You wanted some air.

The rain had stopped long ago, and a heavy mist had settled on top of the fields. A quick warming charm made your clothes toasty enough for you to walk out the front door.

The early rays of the morning sun were beginning to rise, and it cast a sobering glow to the view in front of you. It was officially the end of summer, and the heather was in full bloom. Waves of perennials washed down the hills, goldenrods and sneeze weeds clumped together into clusters and moved like ocean waves in the wind.

Hogwarts was always so beautiful during this time of year, when the smell of fall was in the air, and all the trees were beginning their journeys into hibernation. All the professors and students would slowly get ready for all the cold season holidays, and everyone would get abuzz with excitement. 

With a heavy heart, you came to the slow, crippling realization that you would not be spending your last year at Hogwarts. You didn’t know how long your stay would be here in this cottage, but it was devastatingly soul crushing. There was nothing in the world you loved more than that school, and you were so tragically ripped away from it in your final year.

It does not help anyone to be naive, especially during times of War, but you prayed with a hopeful heart that a miracle would come. You wanted so badly for the War to end, and for all your friends and family to be safe.

A cold rush of air seeps through your jumper, and you shiver, knocking all wishful thoughts out of your head. Like the warmth of the summer season, your hope for a happy ending was whisked away by the wind.

“Take two steps back, would you?”

Whipping around, you see Seungcheol standing a few steps behind you, his wand raised high up into the air.

“You’re almost at the borderline,” he continues. “I need to do this properly.”

“What are you doing?” You did what he asked for, and watched him.

Seungcheol ignores you, concentrating only on the air above him.

“ _Protego totalum… salvio hexia… repello muggletum… muffliato… cave inimicum…_ ”

Protective enchantments and concealments charms. He was hiding the cottage. You turn back around, watching the air in front of you ripple and blur. The spells only needed a few moments before taking effect, but Seungcheol repeated the spells several times over until the air stood completely still.

“We take rounds here. We need to cast them twice a day, morning and night.” Seungcheol’s eyes finally settle down on you. “We can never be too careful.”

And he walks back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all my love to @minigum <3


	3. Chapter 3

You didn’t get much sleep. 

Waking up abruptly to the sound of Mingyu’s obnoxious knocks on your door, you blick away the last remaining images of a softly smiling Seokmin from your dismal dreams. There is an uneasiness dwelling in your stomach as you walk down the stairs to join the others for breakfast.

Steaming bowls of porridge were flying by in the air before settling down into their rightful spots on the dining table. Everyone except Minghao was already sitting, and Seungcheol dove right into his piping hot porridge the moment his bowl landed in front of him.

“Ouch— fuck!” He curses immediately, his hand reaching for his glass of water.

“You do this every fucking day,” Mingyu chides him. “Mate, I’m beginning to think you’re a bit of a masochist.”

“I’m just fucking hungry,” Seungcheol growls into his meal. “Leave me alone.”

Sneering, you take the empty seat next to Wonwoo as you silently think about how much he resembled a slobbering stray dog in a dirty alleyway.

“Morning everyone,” you say tiredly, turning only to Jean to give her a smile. Seungcheol is the only one who doesn’t acknowledge you. Rolling your eyes at your friend, Jean chuckles in response before going back to her conversation with Mingyu.

“Good morning,” Wonwoo greets you politely. “Coffee or tea?”

“I’ll take some tea. Got any earl grey?” You ask, watching your bowl land softly on the table.

Wonwoo flicks his wand, and a single tea bag floats itself over into an empty cup. “Milk? Sugar?” A whistling kettle pours hot water into the cup.

“Cream and sugar, thanks.” You lay your napkin on your lap. “I like my tea very sweet.”

He nods in response, waving his wand just a little bit more to add everything else in for you. Cream swirls in the dark water, slowly blending in to create a soft brown as your teacup settles gently in front of you. You take a small sip after thanking Wonwoo for your morning brew and peer into your bowl.

It was chicken porridge; simple and light, you could tell it only needed a bit of salt for seasoning. Stomach growling, you dig in with your spoon, blowing the surface heat off before taking your first bite.

“Get any good sleep?” Jean asks you from across the table.

“Not sure, I went to bed a bit late last night,” you confess. “I think I managed about four hours of sleep, but I had a strange dream so it felt a bit restless.”

“Oh?” She quirks a brow. “What was it about?”

Your forehead creases up in thought, but you quickly give up. “I don’t remember.”

Mingyu huffs. “Well, I don’t think any of us got a full night’s rest last night.”

“Ew— Christ, Mingyu.” Face bunching up in disgust, your eyes narrow back and forth between him and your friend. “No one cares what you did last night.”

“It’s nothing like what you're insinuating, idiot,” Mingyu says flatly. “We were all up late last night waiting for you two to arrive. Did you forget?”

“Oh.” Your lips seal shut. You look down at your bowl, not acknowledging your embarrassment. 

“That finally shut you up,” Seungcheol grumbles into his bowl.

“Now, now,” Wonwoo raises a hand before you can even open your mouth. “We just started breakfast, for Salazar’s sake. Can we get through this morning without any thoughtless fights, please?”

The corners of your lips turn down, silently and begrudgingly heeding to Wonwoo’s words because he was the one who prepared your cup of tea. Turning back to your porridge, you dig into another spoonful.

“Minghao’s still sleeping?” You ask after a swallow.

“He stayed up quite late last night,” Wonwoo responds. “He might still be sleeping.”

Come to think of it, you did find Minghao still sitting in the common room after you walked back inside last night. He had been buried in some book and didn’t even bother to glance up at you, so you greeted him in the same manner and had walked right past him.

“Does he normally stay up that late?” You wonder out loud.

“Not every night. He only stays up when it’s time for—”

There is a clatter upstairs.

“Speak of the devil,” Seungcheol cuts off Mingyu, smiling slyly. Following Seungcheol’s look in the direction, you see Minghao descending the stairs with his hand in his hair. He was brushing his bangs with his fingers in an attempt to make them look tamer. It did not work.

“Mornin’ Hao,” Mingyu greets him cheerfully.

Minghao only grunts in response and stops at the bottom of the stairs. He looked up as if he was waiting for someone, and just a short moment later, a girl walked down the stairs.

With her short, pin-straight black hair brushed neatly behind her ears, you caught your eyes on Trinh, a Slytherin girl in the same year as the rest of you.

“Trinh? Why— why are you here?” you drop your spoon with a clatter. She had always been the more secluded student in your year, that even though she was a Slytherin, you have never seen her surrounded by many people, much less people like Minghao who always seemed to be surrounded by snakes equally as dumb as him. “Are you also—”

“She’s not.” Minghao slices in quickly, interrupting any and all thoughts of Trinh being a Death Eater.

“Easy now.” Trinh takes his hand, pulling him towards the dining table to join the others. “I’m hungry. Let’s start our breakfast, shall we?”

Minghao follows right behind her without another word, and your eyes narrow, zooming into their joined hands with scepticism.

“Forgot we got two extra people in the house now,” Minghao mutters, staring down and noticing how full every seat looked.

“No worries,” Trinh replies cooly and pointed her wand at a pile of wooden logs next to the fireplace in the common room. “ _Sellafors_ ,” she says with a swish of her wand, and the two logs clattered as they transfigured themselves into a set of wooden chairs.

“I don’t get it then,” you continue, watching them both take a seat at the end of the table. “If you haven’t defected like them, why are you hiding?”

“I didn’t come here to hide. I came here to help.” Trinh answered. She waved her wand again to fix her own cup of tea. “I’m here to make sure the boys don’t kill themselves out of stupidity.”

Jean sniggers right into her cup of coffee and accidentally spills drops of hot liquid down her shirt.

“We would’ve been fine without you,” Seungcheol rolls his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, Trinh.”

“She says that, but she’s really here for Hao.” Wonwoo smiles coyly.

“So you _are_ dating!” you gasp.

“What gave that away?” Minghao responds sarcastically.

“Color me surprised, snake.” Despite his tone, a smirk appears on your face. “Didn’t think anybody would have been up for dating your pretentious ass. With your piss ass attitude, you flaunt your snobby nose up higher than any other Slytherin I’ve seen.”

Minghao laughs, clearly unaffected by your insults. “It’s not my fault the peasants can’t understand luxury. I bet you can’t even tell the difference between the quality in robes from Twilfitt and Tatting’s and Madam Malkin’s.”

“Twilfitt and what?”

Seungcheol bursts into laughter at that. “You don’t even _know_ what Twilfitt and Tattings is? I knew you wouldn’t be able to afford it, but gods are you really _that_ poor?”

“I don’t see a point in spending all your golds in the finest of silks and velvet when you wear them around like the hunchback of Notre Dame!” Retorting back with a snarl, you throw your spoon into your bowl angrily.

“At least I didn’t _engorgio_ an old cloak that I grew out of because I couldn’t afford to buy another one like some destitute bitch!”

“It’s called being thrifty, the fuck would you know anything about crafty, you underdeveloped bumblefuck—” 

“Children, _children—_ ” Mingyu waves his hands down in a motion of wanting silence. “This is our first meal together as a family, so as much as I love to see the two of you rip each other's tongues out, I think we’d all appreciate having our porridge without any duels. Stress eating gives me indigestion.”

“But she—”

“ _Indigestion._ ” Mingyu reiterated, glowering at his friend. “You want to fight? Go ahead, but I’m warning you ahead of time that I _will_ complain about my upset stomach exclusively just for you. Do you really want that, Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol sneers but gives no response. Mingyu smirks, the look of winning obnoxiously clear on his face. You thought it pathetic for him to feel so proud over getting Seungcheol to shut up, but silently admitted how impressive it was to get the babbling twat to stop.

Jean shifts her eyes to Trinh. “I didn’t realize you were so close with the boys,” she cracked a smile, effectively changing the subject back to her.

“I wasn’t,” Trinh answers back with a deep sigh. “But trust me when I say that I regret my decision every day. I’m in too deep now to escape.”

“How could you regret the best decision of your life?” Minghao grins, draping his arm around her shoulders. She frowns into her mug as he pulls her in closer for a quick peck on the cheek.

“You know, Trinh was the one who placed the portkeys for you guys,” Mingyu reveals. “She’s the one who sent Jean the message.”

“That was you?” Jean turns around to face Trinh. “Why would you do that for us?”

“I don’t think we’ve ever even spoken to each other.” You raise a brow.

Trinh levels her eyes on you. “I did it because you’re Mingyu’s friend, and a friend of his is a friend of mine.”

“It’s the Slytherin in us,” Minghao grins even wider, teeth fully bared. “We never leave our own behind.”

“You’re such a dunce, ugh. Get off me.” Trinh shrugs him off her shoulders. “At least we finally got more people around here. It was terrible being the only girl stuck in this house amongst savages like these boys.”

“Oof!” You place a hand on your chest dramatically. “You mean you’ve been holed up in this house with these nasty boys? How have you survived this long?”

“Lots and lots…” Trinh takes a long sip of her coffee. “And _lots_ of firewhiskey.”

Seungcheol points his spoon accusatorily at her. “Speaking of,” he frowned deeply. “Keep your grubby hands off my drinks!”

“I’ll just pick up an extra bottle the next time I’m out,” Trinh shrugs him off easily.

Your eyes widen. “Wait— we can leave the house?”

“No! No, no—” Mingyu shuts you down quickly. “We haven’t left this house since we came in. You two—” he pointed at you and Jean, “ _Definitely_ shouldn’t be leaving, with your blood status and everything. Trinh is the only one who is safe enough to leave. She comes from a pureblood family, and she was never forced to become a Death Eater, so she didn’t have to run away from anything.”

Confusion drew on your face. “So— why are you really here?”

“I’m here to help them and to now also help you. I go out and bring back food and any supplies Seungcheol might need for potion making, but I mostly go out to do some lurking. I try to stay as updated as possible and see where we’re at in this war. Find out about the latest raids, kidnappings, murders and what not.”

“Which, by the way, have you heard of anything new?” Wonwoo asks.

Trinh looks glumly down at her food. “Nothing good to hear, as usual.”

“Well, what is it?”

“I heard another student got captured, I didn’t catch the name, but they were in Hufflepuff.”

Someone else gasps at the same time as you, and it was only Jean. Were the others used to hearing news like this?

“H-hufflepuff?” you stammered from shock. “Do you know which year?”

Trinh shakes her head, looking disappointed. “Sorry.”

An uncomfortable silence falls down on the table. Everyone seemed to have gone back to their meal quietly. There’s a quiet shuffling on your side, and Wonwoo wipes his lips gently with a napkin and pushes his mostly finished porridge away.

“Well, that really brought down the mood.” Seungcheol breaks the quietness, dropping his spoon into his empty bowl with a loud clatter.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Trinh jokes lightly.

Another silence followed. Wonwoo was clearly distraught over the news, and your own gut was turning uncomfortably inside because you wondered if it had anything to do with Seokmin. You had already worried yourself to sleep last night thinking about his father being locked up in some Death Eater’s dungeons. You forced a huge gulp of hot tea, trying to distract your thoughts as the liquid burned on its way down your throat.

“The view here is incredible though,” Jean pipes in, and you knew she was only speaking up in a gentle attempt to change the subject again to a more pleasant topic. “I could almost see the farmlands over those hills.”

“The windows are both a blessing and a curse.” Mingyu’s cheeks were somehow still stuffed with food. “The view may be lovely, but we can see _everything_.”

“Couldn’t find a house with some actual walls?” You snort, shaking your head at how ridiculous the front of the cottage looked.

“Sorry, we couldn’t be more accommodating, _Princess_.” Seungcheol drawls. “You think the market for illegal safehouses against the Dark Lord is booming right now?”

“I’m just _joking,_ my Godric, can’t say fucking shit without you taking a piss.” Jeering at him, you cross your arms and lean back into your chair. “It’s just this wall, it’s so— it’s very—”

“Unnerving, isn’t it?” Wonwoo finishes your sentence for you. “Once in a while, I’ll see a muggle pass by. They all seem like lost travellers, but even though they’re a good distance away, I can always spot them very easily.”

“People pass by often?” 

He shakes his head. “I’ve only seen two muggles so far. The nearest town is over fifty kilometres away, so we’re completely isolated from society. I don’t worry about people noticing us too often.”

“It’s incredible at night though,” Seungcheol adds in with a tone of spitefulness, and everyone turns to look at him. “It’s just emptiness out there. A dark, black void into nothing.”

Turning towards the glass wall, you squint your eyes through the glare of the sun seeping into the common room and find the rolling meadows of the field. Will the peace of this land fade away when the sun sinks into the earth?

Seungcheol takes a big gulp of his coffee and breaks into a wide smile. “Imagine seeing a Death Eater coming out of the darkness and walking straight towards our home.”

Mingyu groans loudly. “Oh, you absolute fuckhead. That shits not funny.”

Dropping your spoon into your bowl, you hastily wipe the corners of your mouth clean with the side of your hand and push your half-empty bowl away. You’ve lost all your appetite for anxiety had poisoned your stomach.

“Call it my coping mechanism,” Seungcheol scoffs at Mingyu’s reaction. “When did you turn this sensitive?”

“Leave him alone,” Wonwoo sighs deeply as if he was used to this. “You know none of us like talking about Him.”

“I told you dating that Ravenclaw girl would make you weaker.” Seungcheol ignores Wonwoo, instead turning to Mingyu to poke and prod. “I knew you’d turn into a pussy.”

“She has a name, you snake!” You bark, outraged at him talking about your best friend as if she wasn’t sitting one seat away from you.

Mingyu drags his hands down his face slowly as he massages his eyes. “Love to hear such slander from the boy who got knocked down by a giant bird.”

Jean coughs into her hand to mask her laugh, and Seungcheol immediately turns bright red.

“Stop talking about that monster!” he grunts, angrily standing up and waving his wand violently to send his dishes flying back into the sink.

“Keep acting like a prick, and I’ll get that bird personally delivered to your bedroom,” Trinh exclaimed with a wicked smile.

Seungcheol strode his way out of the dining room and towards a door in the back of the house. “I’m going to work now, no one bother me.” He ground out with a sneer and slammed the door closed.

//

Breakfast was over quickly after Seungcheol’s temper tantrum. The hotheaded halfwit had walked off to fuck knows where.

Jean got up to help Mingyu tidy up, and all the dirty dishes and cups danced around in the air in an orderly manner, placing themselves into the soapy water-filled sink. 

Trinh giggled at something Minghao whispered into her ears, coiling her finger around a button on his cardigan and pulling him back up the stairs. Wonwoo made himself another cup of tea and offered to make you another, to which you declined. He made his way up to his room shortly after and you quickly came to realize that you were standing alone with no company to keep but yourself.

“ _Accio,_ ” you mutter softly, and your reading book flew out of your room and into your hands by the time you reached an old wingback armchair in the common room. The sunlight pooled into the room, washing over all the furniture in its warmth. Sitting down, you faced directly out the glass window and leaned over. With your elbows resting on your knees, you were close enough for your breath to gather fog on the chilled glass.

The outside world was living in its own time period. The rolling hills are covered with flowers that bloomed through the autumn frost, and the sun rays washed over them as the blue sky were brushed white with clouds.

The sight was hauntingly beautiful.

It should relax you.

It should make you feel at peace. 

Even the cottage you sought refuge in is enchanting with all its homely furnishings and dreamy floating candles. From ceiling to floor, the glass wall gave you an amazing view of the garden oasis in front of you. Far in the distance, you can even spot a river that has twisted itself in and out of rocks.

Yet, even with all the wards and protection spells set up, it would still be possible for someone to sneak in. Just as Trinh was a spy for the cottage, there could be someone else out here spying in on the house. Even with the most powerful spells surrounding you, someone could still get in. The thought made your heart drop, a heaviness settling deep in your chest. Nighttime will eventually fall, like all other days, and the only thing you could imagine is Cicero and Selphie breaking their way through the barrier.

Fuck Seungcheol and his twisted, fucked up joke. His words got to you, and you couldn’t stop your own anxiety from taking over your thoughts. 

_Look what happened to Hogwarts._

You couldn’t stop the bitter thoughts coming into your head. The palms of your hands had half-moons printed in white from your nails digging in for so long. You released them when a bird flew by, and felt the blood rush back in to warm up your fingers. 

Always, perpetually at unrest, you must be prepared.

This safety wouldn’t last long.

//

“—at least the weather is nice today—”

Minghao’s voice carried him down into the common room, and you peel your eyes away from your book to see the nest of snakes slithering down the stairs.

“Better not get paired with you again,” Wonwoo grumbles bitterly to Seungcheol.

You wonder curiously when Seungcheol made it back upstairs. Maybe he had apparated?

“Why not?” Seungcheol retorts back with a grin. “It was a fair fight!”

“Fair my arse,” Wonwoo sneers. “You’re a fucking cheat, and everyone here knows it!”

The nest moves together, walking right past you in the common room, and through the dining and kitchen area. Your book closes in on your bookmark, instead using your eyes to watch where they were going.

“Come on, Princess.” Someone calls out for you. “Jean and Mingyu are already outside.”

“Outside?” you raise a brow. “For what?”

“Dueling matches.” Minghao stops for just a second to turn back and answer your question. “You’re coming.”

He doesn’t say it as a suggestion, but rather as a command.

“Says who?” Scowling, you open your book again in a show of resistance.

“Nobody has the energy to get into a row with you every ten minutes,” Minghao drolls.

“Maybe except Seungcheol,” Mingyu slides in with a smirk.

“Just come along,” Minghao repeats, walking to the back of the house again. “We’re going to practice spells.”

//

“Alright, as always, pairs will be picked at random,” Trinh announces to the group in front of her. Warming charms are already cast to help against the briskness, and everyone had their wands gripped tightly in their hands. “I will be the Watcher for today.”

“What’s a Watcher?” you question, a hand is raised up to your forehead to block the sun out of your eyes.

“Since our group is at an odd number, one person always stays out to observe all the duels and takes notes. The Watcher of the day writes down everything they can so we can all keep track of improvements, and make notes of which areas we need to work on.”

“We don’t just sit around and do nothing all day,” Minghao smirks in your direction. “We stay active and get shit done.”

“Ah, yes, the ambition,” you bring your fingers up to air, quoting their house character in mockery. “Would you like a candy, snake?”

“It’s only day two, and I can already hear the tone of affection in your voice.” He places his hands on his chest in mock love.

“Just pair us up already, Trinh.” Seungcheol waves his hand hurriedly, unable to bear his fellow housemates acting so friendly with you.

“Already done it while you idiots were chattering away,” Trinh responds. “Alright, we got Jean with Wonwoo, Seungcheol with Minghao, and Mingyu with our very own Gryffindor’s Princess.”

Mingyu and Jean cheer in merriment at your nickname, taking obvious joy at your twisted face in disgust.

“Your majesty.” Mingyu bows dramatically, and Minghao cackles behind him at his foolish antics. 

“Mingyu, you dog.” You frown, readying your wand out in preparation for the duel.

“Thought I was a snake?”

“Oh shut it, I’ll knock you off your feet.”

“Can’t wait to see you try, Princess,” he winks. “Best two out of three? _Reducto!_ ”

You barely bring up a _protego_ by the time the spell hits you squarely in the chest. You are thrown squarely onto your back, and you grimace in pain. “Oh, you fucking twat—”

“Already one point ahead, Princess~”

//

The smell of sweat piled in the common room, and everyone was seated with their chests heaving after two hours of vigorous training.

“Winners today are Wonwoo, Seungcheol and Mingyu.” Trinh marks everyone down in her book. “Losers from today will cook dinner.”

“What— Hey, that was never discussed!” You rise back up to your feet, agitated with the sudden surprise. “You need to lay out all the rules before bringing people in!”

“Ugh, but we all know that Mingyu’s the best cook,” Minghao complains, “You really want to eat my cooking?”

“Even _with_ magic, I’m sure your foods going to taste like shite,” you grumble, crossing your arms in defiance.

“You shitheads lost fair and square,” Seungcheol grins, crossing his arms as well to mirror your image in mockery. “Whip up something good for us, ey?” 

“Wait until I’m paired up with you, shithead.” You drag your thumb across your neck. “I’ll knock you down within the first three rounds.”

“Oh, I’m absolutely petrified!” He brings up his hands and waves them in mock surrender. “The Princess is going to take me down!”

Mingyu chortles, unbuttoning his collar loose to give his shirt more space to breathe. “It’ll be an easy win for you,” he says to his friend. “I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt, and give her the excuse that it was her first duel here, but man, Princess… you sure you were able to outrun those monsters? Didn’t see any of your fire today.”

“Leave her alone,” Jean chides him. “I lost against Wonwoo, are you going to make fun of me as well?”

Mingyu swallows his next words and purses his lips together tightly. You’re tapping your foot against the wooden floor, irritated at how the worthless beanstalk was able to defeat you. The duel replays in your head like a reel, and you make mental notes on all the areas that you could’ve been quicker and stronger.

“I’m heading back downstairs,” Seungcheol rolls up his sleeves and heads back towards the same door from before. “Call me if you guys need anything.”

Eyes narrowing in suspicion, you watch him as he walks past the kitchen and around the corner to a single door at the back of the house. This was his second time going there today.

“What’s in that room?” You ask, still staring at the spot. “What’s he doing?”

“Why don’t you ask your best friend yourself?” Minghao says cheekily. 

Trinh smacks the back of his head. “Why can’t you just answer the damn question?”

Minghao pouts, voice whining to appease his girlfriend. “Because you know he only acts like that around her—”

You cut him off in disgust. “I don’t know what the hell that means, but don’t make me gag.” 

“The door leads down to the basement,” Wonwoo answers for you instead. “It’s our potions room, so Seungcheol’s been spending most of his days down there drawing things up for us.”

“Seungcheol?” You quirk an eyebrow.

Mingyu shrugs. “Hate him all you want, but even you have to admit that he’s always been the top student for potions.”

“I’ll admit no such thing,” You respond back curtly. “What’s he brewing downstairs?”

“Antidotes for emergency use in case any of us get sick, but most of his potion making is for Trinh.” Wonwoo motions to the girl seated next to Minghao. “Polyjuice potion.”

“I never leave the house as myself,” Trinh continues the explanation. “I got a whole file with hair I’ve collected from other people. Students, professors, shopkeeps, ministry workers, and whatnot.”

“Even our professors?” Your jaw drops open incredulously. “How did you manage that?”

“Our Divination Professor is quite notorious for her drunken theatrics,” Minghao smirks, looking over at Trinh with a look of adoration in his eyes.

Trinh ignores him. “I doubt anyone would notice a few strands missing while everyone else is busy taking care of her. Humans shed over a hundred strands every day, it’s as easy as just reaching over for a hug and taking a stray hair off someone’s shoulders.”

Jean whistled, clearly impressed at how the whole network of espionage was working within the cottage. You nodded once, and then stopped yourself, not wanting to show the others that you had also thought the same.

“So medical potions and Polyjuice?” Jean asks.

“Wiggenweld, Essence of Dittany, and things for sleeping and the like,” Minghao drolls, waving his hand in the air as he lists off the potions.

“It’s strange though, he seems to be having some difficulty down there,” Wonwoo wondered curiously out loud. “Those potions shouldn’t be too hard for him, he aced every lesson and exam at school.”

“Maybe he’s overworking himself,” Minghao suggested, “He does spend most of his days down there. He might be overwhelming himself with all those potions.”

Wonwoo rubs his chin thoughtfully. “We definitely need more now that we have two extra people in the house… Maybe one of us should go give him a helping hand.”

“No fucking way, mate.” Mingyu huffed. “Last time I worked together with him, he shot a horn tongue hex at me for suggesting that he cut the doxy eggs instead of squashing them.”

“He’s right,” Minghao snickered at the memory. “Seungcheol doesn’t work well with partners.”

“Well, I guess the most we can do is to tell him to take longer breaks.” Wonwoo frowns, still thinking that won’t be enough for his friend.

“And it’s not like that arse would listen to us,” Minghao scoffs. “Just let him be. He’ll know his own limits.”

“Anyways, don’t you losers have some cooking to do?” Mingyu shows a toothy grin, leaning back to drape his arm around Jean, obnoxiously showing off his victory.

“Hope you choke on your food tonight, pissbrain.” You stick up both your middle fingers and walk away and into the kitchen.

//

Mingyu, unfortunately, did _not_ choke on his food. The damn dog ate his food like a starved beast and even asked for seconds. You sneered at him the entire duration of the meal because you knew that bastard didn’t have enough brain cells to appreciate the complexity of the roast beef you made for tonight.

Everyone was at the table but Seungcheol. Wonwoo brought a plate of his dinner down for him because apparently one of the potions still needed a half-hour of turning counterclockwise. 

Dinner passed by relatively quickly because of this. You found that the absence of your arch-nemesis gave you more time to actually enjoy your food while it was still hot, and you savoured every bit of it.

The plate drifted back up halfway through your meal, licked spotlessly clean, but came back alone. Seungcheol was still downstairs working away on his own.

“Another long night for him, huh?” Minghao muttered as he cut another slice off his roast.

“I’ll check in on him after dinner.” Wonwoo offered without glancing up. “He’ll come up with it’s time.”

Looking up at his words, you noticed the grim expressions on all the snakes faces. “Time for what?” you question. All of their faces quickly changed into something different now that you were watching, but try as they might, their usually cool and collected faces still couldn’t hide the grimness.

Strange, you were so used to their almost sociopathic, cunning looks, it was almost jarring to see how all of them couldn’t manage to put on their prim and proper masks. 

“You’ll see soon,” Mingyu stiffened, looking back down on his plate. It was empty, and he was eyeing it so intensely as if he was trying to make a third plateful of food appear before him.

“The fuck does that mean?” Jeering, you stab your fork into the beef. “Can I ever get a proper answer?”

Minghao sighs, sounding equally as annoyed as you. “We’ll tell you when it happens.”

The frustration comes rushing back. Every time you think the boys are acting a bit more friendly with you, the window that you’ve graciously cracked open for them closes shut the second the snakes revert back to their usual twattish selves. 

One step forward, and two ginormous fucking steps back.

//

Wonwoo, Mingyu and Trinh were polite enough to clean up after everyone was finished with their meals. Despite being the winners, they thanked you and your defeated companions for a filling meal and started to clean without another word.

At least their wealthy, righteous ass families taught them some common manners. You walked out of the kitchen without even a thank you and went back up to your room.

Your first day here felt so _long_. After being forcibly thrown into a small cottage that housed all your worst enemies, it’d be a miracle if you could even get a good night’s rest. Having to be in the same room as Seungcheol nearly drained all your mental energy, regardless of whether or not you were having another bout with him.

At Hogwarts, you always had the opportunity to walk away or avoid his vexatious face, but here, the most separation you could get from him is a closed door and an infuriatingly thin wall. You will be forced to be with him, be _confined_ in here with him, every day from now on for God knows how long.

There is no escape for you here. You can not pretend like there isn’t a war raging outside against people like you and your parents. You can not leave despite being hidden behind a handful of protection spells. And you can not pretend like you are not trapped inside this tiny cottage with the man who has wanted to kill you since age eleven.

Would you rather be in the outside world? Out of Hogwarts, and outside of your childhood home, a place that you can no longer return to, and run on the streets with empty pockets and nothing to your name?

Despite the suffocation and all the frustration you felt, you knew this was the only choice you had. You had to stay here.

And even here, you must lay low. Be quiet. Cause no trouble.

How else were you to survive?

//

Jean called for you from outside the hall, and you quickly finished up with the buttons on your pyjama blouse. It was well into the night, and you had been getting ready for bed.

You had spent the past few hours, anxiously biting away at your parched lips, waiting for the _time_ . The dreaded fucking _time_ that made all the snakes drop their perfectly poised faces drop into the misery.

Your eyes were growing droopy and you decided that it must’ve been too late to see whatever they were all talking about, yet in the midst of preparing yourself for sleeping, Jean had called your name.

 _Now_? Now they call you? Right when you were about to slip into the bed you warmed up for yourself?

Of course, they did. Why wouldn’t the snakes go out of their way to ruin even your precious sleep schedule?

_Fucking dickheads._

//

Wonwoo picked up an old radio from the kitchen countertop to bring into the common room and placed it on top of the oval mahogany coffee table.

It looked like an antique, a wooden rectangular box with every corner chipped away after years of use. You looked at it questionably, wondering if the radio would even work.

“What is this for?” Jean asked, thinking the same thing as you.

“ _The Dark Report_ ,” Wonwoo responded sullenly. He flips a switch and the radio turns on, static immediately filling the room. “Jun started this channel a few weeks ago. Starts at eleven o’clock, every night, and he only talks for a short moment.”

“Jun? From Hufflepuff?” Your brows furrowed, questioning why he of all people would be hosting a radio channel. “What’s he doing talking on the radio?”

“I meet with him,” Trinh explains more for you. “Every time I sneak out, I meet with him so that we can share everything that we know. I tell him anything new that I learned from the Dark Lord’s followers, and he keeps me updated on what’s happening in school.”

“I remember!” Jean lights up, sitting straight up in her chair. “He mentioned something about starting a report of some sort to help the other muggle-borns out. I didn’t realize he’d be talking on the radio.”

Seungcheol quirked his lips. “It’s a miracle that Dumblepuff was able to manage something like this.”

“I’m more amazed that you even know what a radio is.” You snort, rolling your eyes at him before turning away to watch Wonwoo again as he fiddles with the dials, still struggling to find the right channel.

“Yes, well, it’s quite unfortunate that muggle studies were made mandatory for us in our fourth year,” he drolls in response.

“It usually takes him a while,” Mingyu explains to you and Jean. “The channel is different every night so that he won’t get caught.”

Levelling your eyes on him, you ask, “What does he talk about?”

Mingyu swallows, eye lowering to his feet. Wonwoo smacks the radio a couple of times out of frustration.

“The damn thing is so fucking old,” Seungcheol sighs, leaning back into his armchair. “Honestly don’t even think it’s worth it, listening to this every night.”

“We _have_ to.” Wonwoo hissed, narrowing his eyes at him viciously.

“Is anyone going to answer my question?” You ask again, exasperated. “What does Jun talk about?”

“It’s a list of names,” Mingyu mumbles under his breath.

“Sorry? A list of what?”

“A list of names!” Seungcheol repeats for Mingyu. “He lists a bunch of names every night. Names of people who have died from any attack, raids or fights with the Death Eaters. It’s to keep the rest of us updated on those that are still alive.”

There’s a click, and the static clears away. Wonwoo places a finger on his lips, and everyone hushes up immediately, leaning in to listen.

_Thank you for coming back to us every night… Once again, I regret to inform you of the new deaths that we have learned of today…_

_Bitterwood Byul…_

_Lee Roan…_

_Silverberry Rose…_

_Sun Sage…_

The list went on for a while, longer than you expected. Your breath was caught in your throat as dozens and dozens of names you didn’t know were being listed.

The sound of static glitched on the radio, and you could hear Jun gasp in shock. It was like he was choking on something, and everyone’s head snapped up to look at the radio.

_And… and… Lee Seokmin…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to warn everyone ahead of time that this will be an incredibly long slow burn. i also want to apologize for bringing in OC characters because i know that not everyone is a big of OC characters. i’m not particularly fond of stories where the reader is surrounded by only men, and thought the story would flow better if the reader also had female friends.  
> big thanks to my amazing beta @minigum you amazing woman you ily


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: this is a brutal chapter. there will be fighting, and curses, and blood and a lot... of rage and unchecked craziness. there are two incredibly tortured souls in this chapter, so this will hurt. this will not be an easy chapter to read. this is also my first action scene ever, so i hope i was able to write it the way i pictured it in my head!

_He was your first kiss._

_It happened in fourth year._

_He mumbled over his words, and his face was burning red when he pulled away, but you thought he was the cutest boy you’ve ever laid eyes on._

_He even apologized after the kiss was over, and all you could do was laugh because of_ **_course_ ** _he would._

_Awkward and clumsy, he kept muttering things to himself._

_But it was your first time too, you reassured him. You were positive that your kissing was atrocious._

_You didn’t know what to do with your lips. Keep them closed? Keep them open? What are you even supposed to do with your tongue?_

_But even through his stuttering, he insisted that you weren’t a bad kisser._

_He looked you straight in the eyes, growing redder by the second, and whispered how amazing you were._

_But of course he would say that. He was always so sweet._

_Sweet, precious Seokmin._

_He was your first kiss._

//

You wake up with acid burning in the back of your throat. Rushing to the bathroom, you collapse in front of the toilet and bend over. You’re dry heaving and gagging, but nothing comes out because your stomach was already emptied out last night after the end of Jun’s _Dark Report_.

Bubbles of spit hang from your chapped lips as you let out a guttural sob. It hurt. It hurt so much to think about him. All you could remember was the way Seokmin used to smile at you, how he used to always save a seat for you next to him in class, or how he’d sneak a treacle tart under his robes to give you before your quidditch practice. It was all you could see whenever you closed your eyes. 

Always smiling. Always happy. 

That was Lee Seokmin.

You’re gasping with your head down when a furious knock on the door startles you.

“This is a shared bathroom, must I remind you?”

Spitting into the toilet, you wipe your lips angrily and stand back up. It was Seungcheol, and he was ready to ruin your day first thing in the morning.

“Five minutes,” is all you can rasp out, the words are raw and painful in your throat.

You could almost hear his fist hesitating on the door.

He clears his throat. “Just leave the door open so I know it’s unoccupied then.” and he walks away.

//

The same clothes from yesterday hang from your weary body. You did not care. It was wrinkled and worn in the elbows and knees, and it probably also smelled a bit like sweat after yesterday’s duelling. Even still, you did not care.

There were quiet murmurs and gentle shuffling coming from the kitchen, and you could see that everyone was already gathered. A sharp, astringent smell hits you in the face before you even walk into the room.

“Firewhiskey? Really?” Your nose scrunches up in disgust. There were seven glasses lined up on the edge of the dining table. Mingyu was halfway done filling them up with an almost empty bottle of Ogden. “This is the first bloody thing we’re going to have in the morning?”

Mingyu continues to pour the whiskey into the rest of the glasses as a silent response.

“It’s for Seokmin,” Jean answers for you. “Apparently, this is what they do whenever someone they know has passed away.”

“You always need someone else to answer for you?” you spit out bitterly and roughly drag out a chair. “Thought your favourite thing to do was mouth off.”

Wonwoo sighs deeply as he takes a seat next to you.

“What? Got something to say?” Turning to glare at him, you notice the bags under his eyes have gotten darker since the day before.

“You think this is easy for us?” Wonwoo says softly, voice sounding weak. “Night after night, listening to see who else we lost? Who it will be this time?”

You raise a brow, just an infinitesimal amount, because you were surprised to see such a touching amount of emotion from the snakes, even if it was just a sniff.

“Didn’t think you cared,” you confess, eyes falling down on the glasses that were now all full with amber liquid. “Didn’t think anyone else really cared. You snakes never talked to anyone outside of your house.”

“But it’s not like he wasn’t our classmate,” Minghao muttered as he pushed a glass towards everyone. “It’s not like we didn’t sit next to him in class for six years.”

No one said a single word. The room was disturbingly silent except for the sound of glass being dragged across the wooden table.

“It’s not like we didn’t know him,” Minghao finishes, somber and quiet.

Seungcheol is the only one sitting back comfortably in his chair. His eyes are turning up towards the ceiling, looking unphased and detached.

Gripping onto your glass tightly, you glowered at him even though his focus was elsewhere and raised your shot of whiskey. 

“To our friend. To _my_ friend.” You swallowed the lump in your throat, refusing to shed a tear in front of _him_. “You were taken from our world too soon. We’ll miss you.”

The firewhiskey burned like acid and it spread heat across your neck and cheeks. You wanted to cough, but even that you swallowed down. You will not show him a moment of weakness. Not in front of him. Not ever.

Mingyu starts to collect the empty glasses, but Seungcheol is already pouring himself another shot. He downs it like water and grabs the bottle again.

“Cream and sugar, right?”

Wonwoo slides over a teacup, the sweet scent of bergamot wafting gently in the air. It was your favourite cup of tea. Looking up, you saw that Wonwoo was already staring at you with a stoic look on his face, but even still, behind his blank expression, you could tell that he was full of unsaid words. You nodded at him in wordless gratitude and got up.

You skip breakfast and go right back up into your room.

//

No one wants to practice duelling, but Mingyu forcibly pulls the group together with the help of Minghao.

“We must stay vigilant,” Minghao says. “Always.”

It must’ve rained earlier in the morning, you could feel it in the air in the first breath you take. The humidity and fog feel heavy in your lungs. One by one, everyone shuffles out to the back of the cottage, the mucky ground immediately caking up the soles of everyone’s shoes.

Jean steps out to face the rest of the group. “I volunteered to be the Watcher today,” she speaks up and holds up a brown hat. “Pairs will be picked at random—”

Her hand digs in and quickly pulls out two small pieces of ripped paper. “Mingyu and Minghao,” she says and slides her boyfriend a soft smile before sticking her hand back in again. “Our second pair is Trinh and Wonwoo, which leaves— well, you two— together.”

A puff of misty cloud leaves your lips at a deep exhale.

_It’s him. It’s him. It’s against him._

You grip your wand so tight, you can feel your knuckles turning white.

 _Breathe in…_ _Breathe out..._

You must stay calm. You will not let him get to you.

This is a duel. A duel meant for training, and no matter what history you had with him, you can _not_ let him get to you. You will fight the best you can, and you will teach yourself how to get stronger, better, and faster.

You draw up a mask, hiding your resentment behind smoke and mirrors and stand at the ready.

Minghao pats your shoulder lightly. “Try not to kill each other, alright?” You could just hear the smirk in his voice. How irritating.

Seungcheol walks over to your side at a leisurely pace, staying a good distance away with his wand still in his pocket.

_You need to stay focused._

He’s in front of you, languid as ever, with his head cocked to one side and his hand tucked in his pants pocket.

_Breathe in… Breathe out…_

He’s twirling his wand between his fingers.

_Stay focused._

“You hate me,” he says suddenly. 

“Trying to start something before we even begin?” You say flatly. “I’d like to get a fair fight.”

He bares his teeth, showing you a crooked, gummy smile. “Who says you won’t get one?”

The others have already begun their duelling. There are shouting and explosions all around you.

“You hate me,” Seungcheol repeats again, licking his lips. “You hate me quite a lot.” He says it so matter of factly, your jaw drops with the sheer audacity he had as if the hatred between you two wasn’t a living, breathing thing that’s been birthed since year one.

“Of course I fucking hate you,” you scoff into the cold air. “I’ve spent the last six years of my life hating you because you made it your fucking life’s mission to destroy mine.”

“And did I do it?” Seungcheol grins wickedly. “Did I destroy it?”

_Breathe in… Breathe out..._

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Seungcheol laughs. Open-mouthed and sounding so real, so genuine. His head shakes as a wide smirk spreads across his face, his hair falling forward, almost hiding his eyes from you. This bastard was _taunting_ you.

The glee on his face is almost sadistic. “So why don’t you show me?”

It cracks. A single pin was all you needed to drop for your mask to break, and the anger you were so desperate to repress was bubbling through.

“ _Confringo_.”

A ball of fire expels itself out of your wand and Seungcheol easily steps out of its way. Dirt exploded into the air when it hit the earth behind him, and he brushes the soil off his hair like it was nothing but a mere nuisance.

“Oh come on, Princess,” he drawls. “You’ve got to be better than that.”

In a pile next to the backdoor, you spot a stack of twigs used for firewood. “ _Oppugno_!” you shout, and the broken pieces of wood shoot towards him like arrows.

With his crooked smile never leaving his face, he waves his wand almost lazily and the kindlings disintegrate the moment it touches his shield charm. 

“Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to fight against you. Gryffindor’s perfect fucking _Princess—”_

“ _Reducto!”_

Seungcheol blocks the spell again and scoffs. “You’re mad, aren’t you?” His wand waves again, and this time a red beam shoots out. Half a second too late, you step away and the attack spell grazes your right shoulder. “Show me your anger!” Another red beam shoots out from his wand. “Come on, Princess! Show me!”

“Shut up— shut the _fuck_ up!” You snap, raising your wand to aim it directly at his face. You’re embarrassed at how shaky your hand is. “Don’t call me that, don’t _ever_ call me that again.”

He snorts. “And why not?” He rolls his eyes, twirling his wand between his fingers again. “It’s what _everyone_ calls you—”

“But not you, never you— never, ever, ever— _expulso_!”

It was mind-numbingly infuriating, watching each and every one of your spells being deflected by him. He threw them all to the side like they were crumpled up pieces of paper and walked over them as they still sizzled on the ground. How could he have gotten so much better than you at duelling? He was never better than you at it. You had always defeated him in class, hadn’t you? You were only away from school for one summer— 

He is laughing again, but this time he’s roaring so hard, he’s doubled over with his entire upper body quaking.

“You— you’re actually tryna blow me up?” He gasps out between each heaving breath. “You hate me— so much, you want me in bloody bits and pieces all over the house?”

You cannot help your own bark of laughter that bursts out. “You don’t fucking get it, do you?”

The wind picks up and a frosty chill penetrates through your jumper as his merriment slowly dies down. “Get what?” He straightens back up, a smile still on his face. “You’re going to have to elaborate, sweetheart.”

“You…” Seokmin is smiling inside your head again, and the crack splits, branching out into a thousand different splinters. “You just...”

“ _Just_?” He echoes, a brow quirked in amusement. “Are you forgetting your words now?”

Seungcheol, with his perpetually haughty face, was a devastatingly painful reminder of your reality, one that painted a harsh contrast to Seokmin who had always brought you happiness and comfort. He was staring at you, _patronising_ you with so much arrogance, the anger broke through. Spurting out through the cracks, hissing and steaming as it dribbled down the mask you tried so desperately to hold together.

“You just fucking sat there,” you ground out. “Like he didn’t even matter. Like you didn’t even know him.”

“Who?” His hand drops to his side. “That Hufflepuff? Are we still going on about him?”

It is terrifying how genuinely confused he looks.

“He was our classmate!” He deflects another _confringo_ with a quick snap of his wrist, and you wail in anger. “Six years! Six fucking years we spent together with him!”

Seungcheol’s expression drops suddenly, wrist flicking away another spell. A vacant look replaced in his eyes. “Just another mudblood,” he said flatly. “Must I care about every dirty little mudblood in our school?”

“D-don’t care?” You can’t help the stutter, alarmingly disturbed at his lack of emotions. “He’s dead, and you don’t even care?”

“Our entire country has run amok with mudbloods. Am I expected to grieve for all of them?” he drawls, exasperated.

“Don’t care…?” you murmur to yourself. Your guts are twisting in horrified confusion. “Don’t care… You don’t care...”

“What was that, sweetheart?”

Blood drains from your face as the realization slowly dawns on you.

“You don’t care,” you repeat, louder, fiercer.

He rolls his eyes. “Think we already established that—”

“Shut it!” Snapping, your wand is drawn up again. There is a fury burning deep within your veins now. “You don’t fucking care because you’re a killer— a murderer! A murderer just like him—”

His face twists. “Don’t—”

“That homicidal monster that you call your _Lord_! You’re just like him!”

Seungcheol’s face contorts painfully into something angrier, something darker. “You have no idea what you’re talking about…”

It gave you an unsettling type of pleasure watching him. You want him to feel angry. You want him to feel your pain. He was, after all, the one who brought all this pain onto you.

“You’re a murderer—”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Just like him—”

“ _Sectumsempra._ ”

It was a spell you did not know.

Your _protego_ was barely brought up, so his spell sliced through like butter. You could feel it. Deep lacerations spread rapidly, marking your chest and left arm with gore. You did not even need to look down to see how much you were bleeding. The blood is already seeping through your jumper, ruby red blossoming quickly from the centre of your chest.

But you do not feel any pain. There is no stinging, or aching, or throbbing. There is only anger.

Even the sight of blood must have shocked Seungcheol. He takes several steps back, frozen stiff and unmoving for just a few moments, a few seconds more than he should have allowed himself.

“ _Diffindo_.”

It is your first hit of the day, and the spell lands directly in the middle of his chest. His white shirt rips violently open as he gets blasted nearly ten feet behind him, crashing violently into a tree before falling to the ground. Seungcheol’s face is buried into the ground, and you find yourself gasping for air, your jumper feeling heavier and heavier by the second.

Strength is draining from you, but you take slow and deliberate steps towards him.

“You’re full of shit, Seungcheol.” Blood is dripping from your fingertips, leaving scarlet dots pebbled on the grass below you. He struggles to sit back up. “You’re a monster, a fucking monster, just like him—”

He’s laughing again, but this time he sounds almost hysterical. Propping himself up, his grimy hand is firmly pressed just under his collarbone, fingers gripping the tattered bits of his shirt together as a deep red spreads rapidly on his shirt.

“Is this funny to you?” you whisper, and kneel down in front of him, doing absolutely nothing to try and stop your own bleeding. Fingers, disturbingly still, reach over to touch his cheek, painting his almost translucent skin with your blood. “Was this the fight that you wanted?”

The laughter fades, and his smile falters. You’re blinking slowly, trying to memorize the way he stops his breathing, but all you can notice is the agonizing way his eyes twist and wring, and it does nothing to ease the pain in your own heart.

“You’re a mudblood **cunt** ,” he finally breathes out in a vicious whisper, and your hand slides off, his cheek left with the trails of your fingerprints. “You will never understand.”

There is a ferocity now, a dark and dangerous energy coming back into his eyes. “You did not win,” Seungcheol hisses and he pushes himself up. Blood is trickling from his neck and collarbone, and flowing over onto his milky white skin. It drips when he stands, and it lands on your face when you look up, leaving tear-like marks as they roll down your cheeks and lips. Towering over you, he’s breathing hard as angry puffs of smoke leave his chapped lips.

“You did _not_ win,” he repeats cruelly, “But this is over.”

A numbing ache takes over your body. You aren’t sure if it was from the cuts still spreading on your body, or if it was because you were holding back tears, but Seungcheol is storming back into the house now, and you are left alone on the cold, muddy ground.

All you can see is red.

The only thing you are aware of doing is breathing, and that was because it hurt. There is a sharp, piercing pain every time you take a cold breath, and it makes your heart race faster and faster. So despite the frigid weather, all you can feel is a raging fire because how dare he? How _dare_ he just walk away from you?

Using your good arm to help yourself up, you follow him. It’s only a few long strides until you reach the house, and the backdoor is left open in Seungcheol’s wake. Finding him is as easy as following the trail of his footprints, mixed with both mud and blood, it leads you straight into the common room.

Wooden drawers are being slammed open and shut, and you find him searching for something in the cabinets next to the fireplace. Be it ointments or bandages, you did not care. One stomping foot after another, you charged in, wand at the ready.

“Fuck you, Choi Seungcheol.”

His hand freezes, his body turning towards you slowly. “Don’t— don’t come near me…” he warns.

“This is what you wanted,” you fire back angrily. “You started this, and now you want to just end it?”

“I told you this was _over_ ,” he growls, hand swigging over to grab onto the tip of your wand. The wooden cabinet is stained crimson with the marks of his fingers.

“And who the fuck do you think you are to decide that?” You step closer. His blood seeps into the cracks of your wand. 

“Is that why you followed me?” He cracks a crooked smile, bloodied lips bent furiously. “To end this fight?”

“What if I am? What if I want to finish this bloody fight with you—”

“Then do it.” He tugs roughly on your wand, jerking you closer to him. “End it then. End me.”

“What— No, that’s not—”

“Fucking do it,” He says, gripping onto your wand even tighter and forcing it to the centre of his chest. “Fucking end me! You can’t miss, _Princess_.”

His voice is sticky sweet, but the venom is dripping off his lips. The mania is swirling in his eyes, and all you can see is the look of a deranged man losing it before your very eyes. 

For the first time in your life, Choi Seungcheol has scared you speechless.

“No— stop—”

“Just another fucking murderer, aren’t I? Don’t you want to kill me?”

“I don’t—” 

“Fucking pussy,” he spits at your feet, his disgust and malice mixed in with his blood and spit. “Could’ve left me dead just like your precious little friend. Where’s your fucking Gryffindor courage now? ”

The mask shatters. A million pieces are crumbling down, and everything that you’ve feared, loathed and dreaded inside of you comes bursting through, gushing out like a waterfall that broke through a dam.

The punch lands harder than you think and Seungcheol lands on the ground. His head makes a heavy thud, and your muscles are moving faster than your mind. You’re on top of him before you can even comprehend what you’re doing, knees placed on his sides to lock him in place.

All you can see is red. 

Fists are pounding into his face, and it doesn’t even feel like they’re yours because blood is splattering all over his face and yours. Every muscle and bone in your body is screaming in anger, anger, _anger_.

There is a mad cackle in the air, and you don’t even realize that it’s coming from you. The pain of losing Seokmin is bruising your heart, and it hurts you, it hurts so damn much. Seungcheol does not even attempt to stop you, and it only enrages you more. He is just lying there, with his eyes looking blissful with a wide smile on his face. It angers you so much, you can not help but laugh. His porcelain fucking skin paints brighter and brighter in red.

Why? Why? _Why?_

Why does he not hit you back? Does he not hate you? Does he not want you gone?

You sob in the midst of your laughter because your long-awaited rampage gives you no sense of satisfaction.

Someone wraps their arms roughly around your chest, and you are violently ripped off, feet dragging on the carpet that you’ve managed to ruin once again. Every inch of your skin is screaming in agony and your wand is ripped away from you. All you can do is cry and cry and cry as you’re being dragged further away from him.

All you see is pain.

Seungcheol slowly sits up. His face is absolutely destroyed bloody with bruising already started to form. His eyes are dead, but he’s smiling again. Always that crooked fucking smile.

All you see is blood. 

There is so much of it. It is on his face, and his clothes, and the carpet, and on that armchair that you like so much. You look at the carpet and wonder which puddle of blood belonged to whose.

All you see is red.

It is wet. The bloodsoaked carpet feels damp underneath your hands, and the smell of it is hanging so thickly in the air, you can almost taste it on your tongue. Your vision blurs, and you can’t even tell if you’re breathing anymore.

There is a whisper. “ _Vulnera sanentur._ ”

All you see is black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as my amazing beta @minigum said, “ jesus i mean this in the best way possible but that was hard to read” i love you so much hahaha
> 
> i am also on tumblr! follow me at lemoncherrypop ♡


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